Senate orders probe into William Kabogo's luxury cars

NAIROBI: Senate Speaker Ekwee Ethuro has directed the House Finance Committee to probe the passing of a bill by Kiambu County Assembly granting Governor William Kabogo's administration the leeway to buy 42 vehicles at Sh221 million.

This direction was given following a petition filed by a section of the Kiambu County Assembly, accusing Mr Kabogo of instigating an illegal procedure of enacting the Supplementary Appropriations Bill to push through the purchase of the vehicles.

A petition by 24 MCAs from the county, presented by Kiambu Senator Kimani Wamatangi, stated that the governor arrogated himself the role of law-making to push his agenda after the county assembly declined to pass the same.

The petition led to an uproar in the House, with senators saying that governors must be stopped from incurring expenditure that have been rejected by county assemblies.

"We thought the little money we are sending to counties should be for water, roads and other projects. It is disheartening and sad that governors are using this money to buy themselves posh cars and build themselves palatial homes," said Vihiga Senator George Khaniri.

TOTAL BREACH

The MCAs said the county assembly initially amended the original bill by Kabogo's administration, which sought to buy 72 vehicles at Sh221 million and instead gave him the leeway to buy only 15 vehicles.

However, Kabogo declined to assent to the amended bill and instead returned it to the assembly for reconsideration, changing the number of vehicles he intended to buy from 72 to 42, but surprisingly at the same cost of Sh221 million.

The petitioners said the memorandum from the governor was committed to the Budget Committee of the assembly that recommended the rejection of Kabogo's request, calling for the bill to be passed again as it had been considered earlier.

"But when the matter came before the assembly for debate and adoption of the committee's report, the governor instigated a commotion in the assembly and the money bill was not debated," state the MCAs in their petition.

And in a surprising move that goes against the legislative processes, the MCAs said a special sitting was convened on May 18, where the bill was placed before the committee of the whole house, and a directive given that those opposed to the amendments proposed by the governor were required to raise a two-thirds majority to reject it.

"This was in total breach of section 21(3) of the County Government Act and the County Assembly Standing Orders," said the petitioners.

The MCAs said the "bulldozing" manner in which the governor had pushed through the bill had caused tension in the county as area residents had rejected the move to buy the vehicles.

Mr Ethuro directed the committee to expeditiously investigate the matter.